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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29661018">What Arthur missed while being dragged through Seoul</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/megan_el/pseuds/megan_el'>megan_el</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyeofskynet/pseuds/skyeofskynet'>skyeofskynet</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The points’ annual drinking night [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Inception (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>BAMF Arthur, Dom Cobb Being an Asshole, Dreamsharing, Drinking, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, M/M, POV Outsider, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Protectiveness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:40:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29661018</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/megan_el/pseuds/megan_el, https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyeofskynet/pseuds/skyeofskynet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A bunch of drunk points probably shouldn’t be planning how to get rid of Dominic Cobb while also planning how to hide it from Arthur. Someone might have a mafia hitman on a speed dial and some people that aren’t Eames may be worried about Arthur’s wellbeing.  </p>
<p>So, in other words: what Arthur missed while being dragged through Seoul.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arthur/Eames (Inception)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The points’ annual drinking night [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2177691</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What Arthur missed while being dragged through Seoul</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>November 2009</b>
</p>
<p>"Okay, you know the rules. No phones, no photos, we can't have people know that… Wait, where's Arthur? Usually he would be at his second drink by now, claiming he can't be both social and sober."</p>
<p>Jonas coughs.</p>
<p>"Cobb."</p>
<p>"Ugh."</p>
<p>"Ugh, indeed."</p>
<p>"I sense a story here," Olav says before he can stop himself. It’s his first time here, okay? He’s nervous and very much trying not to show it, because these people are scary even in the best of circumstances.</p>
<p>The whole table is staring at him in a weird way now. <em>Great</em>. He gulps his beer fast and hopes somebody speaks soon.</p>
<p>Finally, Erin does. "Cobb is... How to say it gently?"</p>
<p>"A selfish bastard," Jonas mutters.</p>
<p>"Possibly homicidal," Evan suggests.</p>
<p>"Nuts," Rachel offers.</p>
<p>"He’s this brilliant architect, turned semi-skillful extractor, turned a supposed wife-killer on the run, who, for reasons mostly unknown, still has Arthur’s loyalty," Erin tells him.</p>
<p>"And that loyalty is pretty one-sided, too," Rachel adds with a grimace. "Cobb’s not… a people person on his best days, and he left those behind a few years back. He fucked over pretty much everybody in his life."</p>
<p>"And Arthur doesn’t see it?" Olav asks. It doesn’t fit the legend of Arthur he’s heard over the last however-many months. The guy is supposedly the best of the best and yet he wouldn’t notice his friend being this shitty?</p>
<p>"Arthur sees it, but he still remembers different times, too," Erin says with a shrug. "Things were different with Mal around. Easier."</p>
<p>The glasses go up and mutters of "Fuck you, Cobb" echo around the table.</p>
<p>"Arthur is... loyal to the bone," Erin continues. "He's the kind of a guy who won't stab you in the back. I mean, he can, he's good at stabbing, I saw what he did to the militarized projections on the Keller job we ran point on together. But he won’t do it when the stabbing involves his coworkers slash friends slash insert a very unhealthy relationship here. Unless someone double-crosses him, that is."</p>
<p>Jonas swallows his Schnaps then puts the bottle down. "Here’s an idea. Let’s get rid of Cobb."</p>
<p>Erin looks at him like he’s out of his mind, which Olav appreciates deeply. Whatever he expected, coming here, it wasn’t a plot to get rid of anybody.</p>
<p>"Didn’t you hear what I just said about Arthur and his feelings towards being double crossed and also stabbing?"</p>
<p>Jonas clearly didn’t. "I mean, Bulgaria's extradition treaty with the US just entered into force, so they will want to look good. And Boyan owes me a favor. We can fake a job there."</p>
<p>"We can fake a job anywhere, the question is, how do we hide it from Arthur?" Anežka points towards the elephant in the room, of course. "I don't know about you, but I’d tried hiding shit from him in the past and it didn't work. The guy was rumored dead while I was in Poland and he still knows more about that job than half of my team who were actually on that job."</p>
<p>"Well, we fake it professionally." Jonas shrugs. "Don’t tell me we can’t do it, we’re collectively motherfucking brillant. My cousin is a mafia hitman, I can ask him to pose as the mark. We just need to make sure Arthur is pissed off, busy as hell, and on caffeine withdrawal."</p>
<p>It almost looks like Jonas has been planning it for a while, which is worrying, to say the least. It also brings up a question whether Jonas has a plan how to kill everybody in this room, if necessary, but Olav pushes it aside. For now.</p>
<p>Anežka raises her eyebrows. "So you're saying we basically need to get him away from Cobb, put him on a deserted island he can't swim his way out of for at least a week, and then live to tell the tale?"</p>
<p>"Not a bad plan, actually," Evan says, possibly trying to sound supportive, but failing miserably.</p>
<p>"You're out of your mind. Don't forget we would have to make sure Eames is busy somewhere else, too."</p>
<p>"I don't know," offers Rachel. "I have a feeling he would be all for offing Cobb."</p>
<p>"First of all, no offing anybody unless we’re under," Erin says, looking pointedly at Jonas. "We’re talking about helping the ‘justice’ system to do its thing for a change. Second of all, yes, Eames would be the first in line, but he won't plot behind Arthur's back about it."</p>
<p>Rachel takes the shot from the tray Evan has just brought to table. "Ugh, feelings. It would be easier if they weren't, you know, like that." She slumps a little in her seat. "I guess we <em>could</em> just kill the bastard. Jonas, how high are your cousin’ rates? We can pay him from the Unfuck-the-Fuckup Fund."</p>
<p>"I have him on speed dial."</p>
<p>Everybody is looking at Jonas now, which Olav considers a tiny bit of relief. But then Jonas just shrugs, which is the exact opposite.</p>
<p>"What? You never know when you may need a friendly sniper rifle."</p>
<p>Erin knits her brows. "Don’t tell me. Stuttgart?"</p>
<p>From the grimaces around the table, that seems like the story Olav would like to hear one day, but he has more pressing issues at hand. Also, he really can’t tell which half of these stories happened in real life and which in the dreams. Some of them are, possibly, utter bullshit.</p>
<p>"You're overexaggerating, right? About the whole island thing?" he asks after gulping his drink a little too fast.</p>
<p>"Yes, but not by much," Rachel admits with a shrug. "Arthur can't find out or he will take it as a double-cross—"</p>
<p>"Which it will be, but not against Arthur."</p>
<p>"I don’t give a fuck about Cobb’s precious feelings, he can rot for all I care." Rachel narrows her eyes, but then rolls her shoulders and looks back at Olav. "Arthur tends to be overprotective. And I don’t want to find out which one of us is better at hand to hand combat."</p>
<p>"Hand to hand, really?" Olav asks in disbelief. A month ago he watched Rachel, ex heavyweight MMA fighter, deal with four men at once and he saw a few photos of Arthur when he’d dug deep enough. "He weighs like, what, 70 kilos?"</p>
<p>"And all this weight will be on you. He does this mean trick with choking people with their own arms."</p>
<p>"I mean," Anežka joins in, trying to break the ice cubes with the straw, "I almost had a sexual identity crisis for like two whole minutes when he choked a projection with his legs. His legs are longer than mine." She sighs. "I miss the times when two points on a militarized extraction job were considered mandatory. We come up with the best shit and nobody ever is there to appreciate it. Aside from Eames," she adds with a grin. "I had to describe that particular story to him in detail. Five times."</p>
<p>Olav opens his mouth to ask, but Jonas cuts in first.</p>
<p>"Speaking of Eames, this whole dragging-Arthur-around-the-world thing royally screwed up our ongoing will-they-won’t-they bet. Erin here had a meltdown when it totally broke her Excel spreadsheets."</p>
<p>"I did not!" she protests, but even Olav doesn’t buy it, really.</p>
<p>Jonas continues as if she didn’t say anything. "We were so close, damn it. Arthur and Eames had their thighs pressed together during Gauthier's job. Eames had his hand on Arthur’s knee for the entire duration of the desert. They <em>shared it</em>. Arthur used pet names. In French."</p>
<p>"Husbands were their cover," Anežka reminds.</p>
<p>"The last time I saw so much heart put into acting was during my daughter’s kindergarten theatre play. Arthur showed both dimples. I bet my favourite knife that they would finally fuck after that job and then fucking Cobb called."</p>
<p>Anežka sighs. "We should just start all over—"</p>
<p>"No!" Erin shouts. "No messing with my spreadsheets again."</p>
<p>Olav watches the back and forth between the two of them for a moment, then turns to Rachel, who looks at him with her judgy eyebrows and that smirk he knows so well by now. <em>Nothing left to lose</em>, he figures. Not that they respect him here or anything.</p>
<p>"So, that bet," he starts. "Is it about people in this field in general or...?"</p>
<p>"Well, everybody knows somebody in this business. We tend to get bored."</p>
<p>"So that’s not just Arthur and that forger guy."</p>
<p>"No, but oh boy, they’re the most popular, for sure. With the two of them in the room, you don’t need a chemist." Rachel raises her shot glass. "There's enough chemistry in the air that the Somnacin is mixing itself. Do you want in?"</p>
<p>"Let me get this straight―" Olav starts, because something is clearly amiss.</p>
<p>"That would be hard," Rachel mutters into her glass before downing the shot.</p>
<p>"―you want to kill or inprison a guy so that another guy can finally fuck a completely different guy."</p>
<p>They <em>all</em> look at him like he’s an idiot now. <em>Great</em>. Anežka blinks, her drink forgotten halfway towards her mouth. Even Chen is awake for an entire minute of intense staring, and it's common knowledge he attends these meetings mostly to fuck his sleeping patterns even more, not caring much about breaking down the silent Asian trope. Jonas holds up his phone like he’s about to speed dial his hitman cousin, and nobody tries to take it away from him. Erin slams her Moleskine down onto the table. In the sudden silence of the room the sound is almost like a gunshot.</p>
<p>Then Rachel starts laughing like a maniac. Olav wants to sink beneath the table now, but it’s filthy under there, so he refrains. Thankfully at least Evan is in the loo, so that’s one person who isn’t a witness to his humiliation.</p>
<p>"Oh. You, like, <em>worry</em> about him," he realises entirely too late.</p>
<p>"Sad life lesson, kid." Jonas is all fatherly now. <em>What the fuck</em>. "Unless, like dear Anežka here, you share your life with somebody who gets this job, nobody in this field gives a shit about points. They think we’re replaceable, if not this one, then that one… They don’t consider what we do a talent, or whatever-the-fuck, so we don’t matter that much. But it’s our job to take care of everybody else, both under <i>and</i> topside. Arthur would take a real bullet for Cobb. Cobb is not worth a real bullet."</p>
<p>"So we watch each other’s backs," Rachel says, all traces of laughter forgotten. "Chen has been tracking Arthur since Cobb’s escape from the States. Chen, an update, if you may?"</p>
<p>"Cobb is currently ruining Arthur’s success rate in Seoul," murmurs Chen. "And I had to call Jonas’ cousin for a favor two months ago, when they were in Cologne. Thankfully, we didn’t even need to pay, since the mark Cobb had pissed off was the guy’s assignment anyway."</p>
<p>"Cousin Bastian is a man of principle. He never charges double. Also, I need to be going," announces Jonas, finishing his drink and getting up. "I bet I have half a dozen missing calls by now. I just hope no kidnapping happened in the meantime."</p>
<p>"Like two years ago, yeah."</p>
<p>"How many times I have to tell you all that we don’t talk about Stuttgart. That’s the second strike tonight."</p>
<p>Evan, who apparently came back at some point when Olav wasn’t paying attention, raises his glass towards him. "Call if you need a hand or a gun, Jonas. I am actually heading to Frankfurt tomorrow to work with some of your pals."</p>
<p>"Worry not, Evan, my friend. I have you on a speed dial as well."</p>
<p>There’s a sudden lull in conversation after Jonas’ exit and Olav desperately tries to come up with a topic that doesn’t include killing real people, but before he manages to find something―<em>fuck, anything</em>―Anežka breaks the silence with a loud slurp.</p>
<p>"So, I guess, with Jonas gone halfway through the planning, we’re not getting rid of Cobb after all?"</p>
<p>Chen blinks and shrugs.</p>
<p>"Well, I do have Jonas' cousin number, if you want."</p>
<p>Olav stands up abruptly and heads up to the bar. He needs more alcohol for this.</p>
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